The Forgotten Rangers
by HartFamily
Summary: Before there were samurai rangers there were samurai rangers! Read about the rangers that came before Lauren, Jayden, Mia, Mike, Emily, and Kevin: their parents! In a series that not only shows that "once a ranger, always a ranger" is no less than true but that rangers aren't just born, they're made.
1. Red: An Early Goodbye

**AN:/** I'd put this before the series ever began. They're drabbles and aren't necessarily in any order so tread lightly young grasshoppers!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the power rangers just my interpretation of the samurai's parents. Enjoy!

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**The Forgotten Rangers**

**Red 1**

Meghan Croshmen-Shiba knows her children. She knows they are destined to be something more, just as she and Reese's team were. They have the flame burning in them that is only ever going to get stronger until it turns into an inferno. She knows that one day she's going to have to say goodbye to her daughter, Lauren. Meghan never got that chance with Jayden. One moment she was fighting Nighlok with the team the next Reese is yelling at her from across the battle field to return to Ji so that she and Lauren can escape and put the plan into action. It was in that moment she knew, that with that last battle, her husband was going to do something that would cost him his life. Once she and Lauren were in safe hands, a call from Ji confirmed her suspicions. Reese was dead, the team were to disband and weren't allowed to contact her or her daughter from that night on, and her only son was to become a decoy and sacrificial lamb. It was just the beginning.

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**AN:/** So this chapter was short, no doubt about that but the next won't be as short! Also here is what the rangers will look like:

**Red – Reese Shiba:** young – Max Irons/older Steve A. Davis (their father in the series)

**Pink – Eva DeSantos: **young – Ariana Grande (brunette)/older – Natalie Martinez

**Green – Parry Pricktle:** young – Dylan Everett/older – Christian Kane

**Yellow – Sadie Fung (sometimes Wantanabe by marriage): **young – younger Jamie Chung/older – older Jamie Chung

**Blue – Baron Markson: **young – Jacob Anderson/older – Kevin's father in the series

**Red 2 – Meghan Croshmen (sometimes Shiba by marriage):** young – Sasha Pieterse/older – Denise Richards

Also for this story I wanted Lauren to look similar to what her mother looks like but also more grown up looking than the original actress. Feel free to think of the original actress when reading this. I can't control your minds. Just be aware that the Lauren that I am writing and have in mind has a bigger persona than what's in the series as well as a different look but still in the realm of the same character. Not OOC but not _not_ OOC. So here's who I picture when I'm doing this story.

**Lauren Shiba:** Casandra Ashe


	2. Pink: No One Knows Better Than You

**AN:/** I'd put this before the series ever began. They're drabbles and aren't necessarily in any order so tread lightly young grasshoppers! I don't own the power rangers just my interpretation of the samurai's parents. Enjoy

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**The Forgotten Rangers**

**Pink**

Eva loves her son to the core but she knows that out of all her old samurai team mates she is the only one who isn't inadvertently training her eldest. _She's_ the only one who hates the idea of him becoming a power ranger. Then again her maiden name _is_ DeSantos. Being the youngest sister to a red then blue ranger and having to see the stress and strain as well as the constant battles on the field and within (though at the time she never realized it was because he was a ranger) then having to go through it herself, she really doesn't want that for her little boy. Plus it doesn't help that Mike wants to spend all his time with his favourite uncle; basically becoming a miniature Rocky doesn't help the matter in her favour.

The thing is, she's a pink. Eva _knows_ people. She _knows_ her son. Mike's nothing and everything like his father, in both looks and personality, and that's all fine with her. The former pink ranger hates and loves that jerk! He left her with their three children to care for by herself (she doesn't care that it's for a good reason! God he makes her hate herself for wanting him back!). Rocky and his friends help out a lot of course, and yet... she still wants it all: husband (God she hates that they never got married!), children, friends, house, and the white picket fence. You know, _normal_! Something Mike will probably never have if he becomes a ranger.

Her eldest son is her favorite and Eva knows that parents shouldn't have those but she can't help it. Mike will be the one to learn the samurai symbols. He'll be the one to take on monsters three to fifty times his size. Her son will be the carrying on the legacy that her brother, his friends, and even she was part of. It's Mike that she favour because it's Mike who might not make it back. Not Nico or Lex, who can't seem to get along without their older brother. No, it's Mike, her jokester, his brother's mediator, his uncle's successor in trying to be smooth but sometimes coming out painfully adorkable, his father's replacement for looking after the family, and one day he'll be earth's warrior.

So when Rocky privately asks her straight out why she won't let Mike join her brother's dojo, "so that when the time does come that he'll be more prepared", she looks Rocky in the eye and gives him the honest answer.

"Because we had fun but we could've died. Right now, I just want him to have fun."

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**AN:/** So I love the backstory that I've written for all of these characters but I think Meghan and Eva are at a tie for my favourite so far! Eva and her baby daddy are definately my favourite relationship that I have in store for this ficlet. Also here's what baby daddy looks like:

**Don Amaro - Danny Pino**

Don't forget that lovely review button!


	3. Green: Something's Gotta Give

**Something's Gotta Give**

**Green**

Parry Pircktle looks at his daughters on the weeks he has them and thanks The Power everyday that it's Serena who will answer the call to fight and not his innocent, naïve, baby-girl, Emily. His youngest is much like her mother and even if things didn't work out too well with Connie (no matter how hard it is to only be allowed to see his daughter every other week), Emily is still his little girl. So he's glad that Serena is tough, because if it was Emily, Parry doesn't know what he'd do. Would she be able to sacrifice all the hours of normal kid stuff to fight? Hell, he'd been doing that for years! Since he was fourteen to when Emily was a toddler and now she's only seven. He loves both his babies but Emily is _small_ dammit! Sure, Parry remembers a time when he was the smallest one on his team, and yeah maybe years of training soon bulked him up and that growth spurt he had finally hit may have helped too. However Parry knows from living with his team mates that it's different for girls. If Emily takes after him and doesn't grow until she least expects it then she's going to be almost breakable! Plus those guys on her team will grow taller, bulkier, and faster than any kid on steroids (The Power has _got_ to be steroids times a trillion!) then she's still going to be small. That's how it usually is on a ranger team.

To this date Parry knows for a fact that his team was one of the longest active rangers but he and the others had settled into their somewhat normal civilian lives. They had families and commitments! That's another thing: there is no way that Emily could lie and make up excuses for why she couldn't make time for others, whether it be her mom or future boyfriend (that's an interrogation he can't wait for) and run off randomly. That's one of the main reasons Connie and he got divorced. It looked really bad when he'd come home late, not make it to events, disappear at any moments notice, and not be able to tell anyone about his childhood. Serena may be 10 but she's good at charming others, so naturally she'll be a good liar. Parry of course, will play dumb and only question where she had run off to sometimes but he knows what it's like and hey, that might even make him the "fun" parent. There are times though, when Parry begins to think: it doesn't matter who gets the call. One of them will find out what it means to loose there innocence and Parry can't shake the feeling that it might _ have_ to be Emily every time Serena gets her twenty minuet nose-bleeds.

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**AN:/** So not so bad so far I think ;) of course I would love to know what you guys think! See that review button over there? You should click it. I'll try to make the next chapters longer but no promises. Anyway here's who will be playing Connie if she decides to make another appearance:

**Connie – Alona Tal**


	4. Yellow: You've Got Something I Need

**You've Got Something I Need**

**Yellow**

Sadie Fung, now Watanabe both loves and hates how much her husband pushes Mia. Lou wasn't even a ranger, and yet the moment she reveals it to him suddenly his side of the family (who she has no doubt didn't like her very much at all) are all "an honorable bushido" this and "a mighty samurai warrior" that! Which is all well and fine but... Okay, it's not that Sadie isn't pleased, very much the opposite! She loved being a ranger, and even though her team is still _technically_ considered active, she would trade anything to be fighting a good fight again! Everything except her family.

Sadie's no fool. She's talked with some of the other rangers, some not even from her team. This yellow ranger knows that The Power is as addictive as it is mysterious. The team's own Red, Reese, is a perfect example of that. Neither she nor Eva, Parry, or Baron says anything, after all it's sort of the elephant in the room:

1. Reese was/would-have-been a Power addict.

2. Reese led them into a hard-fought victory.

3. Reese dies because of point number 2.

4. Come back to point number one as an unspoken yell and start the cycle over.

Unfortunately that's where the dilemma comes in. See, Sadie is aware that she's not a Power magnet. The signs are obvious and yet vague. Most rangers can tell just by observation whether another ranger is or not and of course it's not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing. It just is. For instance, Tommy Oliver is a major Power attractor, where as Eva's older brother isn't, Taylor Earheart is but Ashley Hammond isn't. Then again with new rangers popping up everyday it's getting harder and harder to tell- and yet not!

So yeah, is she a little mad that Lou is trying to get their baby on a early start? Little bit. Does that mean that she's actually going to turn out that way? No way of knowing. Will she be proud of Mia? Absolutely! Is she still worried? _Every day of her life._

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**AN:/** So I'm liking my own story so far... but what do you think about it? Review when you can please! Also here's a Lou:

**Lou Watanabe - Sung Kang**


	5. Blue: In The Hydraulics Of It All

** AN:/ **So I really am enjoying where I'm going with this but I would love to hear what everyone else thinks...clicky-click goes the mouse if it hits the review button [whispers] do it...

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**In The Hydraulics Of It All **

**Blue**

Baron used to think that he was the only sane one on his team. Now he's come to realize that maybe he just grew up way faster than the others. Granted they all had to grow up fast. You can't get into their _profession_ and not see a few things that will haunt you. However, Baron thinks that maybe he was already heading that way and becoming a power ranger sped it up. In fact, that's probably one of the main reasons that he didn't get along with his teammates when they first were starting out: he was just _too_ mature at the time.

Actually, it wasn't an easy start for any of them. Baron and the others have no illusions with what there team was like in the beginning because honestly it was a train wreck! None of them were friends with each other before they became rangers, they weren't even acquaintances! No, the team consisted of a bunch of emotional teenagers that were thrown together by The Power and became a family of friends. Baron's close to his own family of course. The thing is though him and the team went through _stuff_ together.

He sometimes thinks that's why he's the only one really happy to be training his son to become a samurai. Meghan's doing it, although not by choice and Baron hasn't even talked to her since _that day,_ Parry tries but stops the moment his daughter Serena gets a nosebleed or throws up, Eva won't because she's being Eva, and Sadie isn't even the one training her daughter, it's her husband! Baron knows he isn't training the traditional way but at least he's training Kevin. Swimming builds inertia, endurance, muscle, body strength, stamina, and concentration. But hey, he's not one to judge. After all, Baron is the only one of his friends that turned out somewhat natural. He has a loving wife who he doesn't have any issues with, a hardworking son that will become a strong warrior, and friends that he has outside of the team. So maybe being a ranger is all it's cracked up to be. In any case, will keep the training going.


	6. All In: The Dice Rolls On The Rubix Cube

**The Dice Rolls On The Rubix Cube  
**

**Pink, Green, Yellow, and Blue  
**

Eva's a little more than confused when Mike sends her a letter to home explaining that he's the new Samurai Green Power Ranger and that he knows that this isn't really a big shock to her but that he will be living at the samurai house with Ji and the others. Sure the signs were there. Him, without his own knowledge, wearing something that was entirely green or with accents of green in it. He wasn't insightful to emotions as pinks tend to be and there has yet to be a pink male ranger (well that Hunter Bradley had _crimson_ which she will always debate is more towards the pink side rather than red but she digresses). Still, _green_? Don't get Eva wrong, she and Parry are great friends but why'd it have to be green!

Picking up the phone and dialing a number she remembers, Eva contacts Parry. "Why is my son in green?"

Parry always the one to become frustrated when things don't go the way he plans sounds peeved, "Beats me! Emily just got yellow! Can you believe it? _Yellow!_ What I'd like to know- speak of the devil. Hold on." Eva waits a beat and then she hears another familiar someone on the other end.

"Okay, is anyone else confused?" Sadie asks now joining in on the conversation.

"Yes." Both Eva and Parry answer at the same time.

Sadie sighs, "Good, glad to see I'm not the only one. I mean, I'm glad that Mia still got to keep my turtle as her animal spirit but pink? How is that at all a good color?"

"Hey!" Eva interjects.

Trying to save herself Sadie begins again, "No offense, I just was expecting yellow. Did your children keep your colors?" She asked to the both of them.

"No," Eva sighed, "Mike got green."

"And Emily got yellow." Parry explained.

"Well at least they got to keep our animals right?" Eva suggested.

"Hold on," Sadie paused, "It's Baron."

Parry grumbled, "Probably going to gloat. If no one kept their colors, then his son is the red for sure."

Baron's voice entered the conversation. "Anyone else a proud parent?"

Eva. "No"

Sadie. "I need an Aspirin."

Parry. "Screw you, man."

Baron, never one to take any of their over dramatics to heart, kept going. "No need to be sore. You guys are just annoyed that your children are rangers."

"We're not _sore_ that are children are rangers." Parry defended. "We're _annoyed_ that no one got the color they were meant to have!"

Baron was silent for a second then slowly started again. "...You're children didn't get the same colors as you?" They could all hear the smile and laugh he was trying to hide from his voice.

Parry was still peeved. "Oh right, laugh it up! It's hilarious to you!"

Laughing just as his best friend suggested Baron kept going. "It _is_! You all have your children in the mixed up colors and I have my son in mine. Blue!"

A red flag went up in Sadie's head. "Wait, you didn't get red?"

Calming down Baron answered. "Of course not. My son is loyal to his family's color demeanor."

Eva began to catch on. "So if you didn't get red, that means-"

They all became dead silent. Sadie was the first to speak after what seemed like forever. "It makes sense, you know? I mean it was all part of the plan to being with right?"

Parry summarized. "The sealing symbol dies with Reese would go onto Reese's oldest, Lauren, and his youngest, Jayden, would be the distraction."

Eva picked up. "We weren't to have any contact with Meghan and Lauren, or Ji and Jayden until after our children's battles were done. That is if our children...are successful."

Baron drew the final conclusion. "And in return, so to throw the Nighlok off, Ji scrambled our children's colors for our families' safety and make the Nighlok think that these were a whole new house line of rangers, rather than the descendants, like how it is normally with samurai's."

Sadie speculated more. "He couldn't scramble the colors too much because it would look too suspicious."

Eva sighed. "No, just no."

"I _need_ an Aspirin." Sadie groaned.

If at all possible Parry became more irritable. "Screw the Nighlok."

Baron couldn't believe it. "They'll beat them...they have to."

**Red**

Being in their own personal protection program, that's orchestrated by other rangers, Meghan has no qualms about not getting the mail. However, she's watching as Lauren is being taught a protection spell of some sort (their current room and board is with none other than Xander Blye at Rootcore) and can't help but wonder how long this will go on. Meghan was around 19 when she gave birth to Lauren, who is now practically a young adult herself, time seemed to have flown bye when she blinked last.

"Very good Lauren! You're a natural!" The Australian green ranger praises her daughter as Lauren gets it right in one try only just after seeing it demonstrated once.

"Thanks." She smiles at him coyly seeming to render the usually witty mystic ranger speechless. Meghan's not an idiot, she's seen the blush _she's_ given men and Lauren is just as equally blessed in that area. Realizing how he was acting and who he was acting it with Xander throws a cautious and worried (for himself of course) glance at Meghan, who shrugs with an impassive face. Turning back and suddenly becoming almost awkward in his uncomfortableness, Xander looks unwieldy at her daughter. "You want to stop today?"

To which Lauren replies with a small but powerful grin that means she's won with some sort of internal contest with herself, "Sure Xander. Whatever you want." Meghan's heart always stops when she does that. She has no idea how Jayden turned out but if there is anything to be said about Meghan's and Reese's children, it's that they are definitely _their_ children. Lauren does have her own personality but when she smirks and has that sly "I-know-that-you-know-that-I-was-destined-for-things-you-can't-imagine-and-I'm-going-to-use-that-to-my-advantage" look, Meghan knows that karma's out there chuckling as if to say "so you fell in love with and married the guy you loath? Well I gave you his reincarnate!" Still it hurts ever single time her daughter acts like her father. Quite honestly it's kind of their simple. Lauren seems to revel in making Meghan react in ways that she always wants to keep sealed (another thing her daughter and husband have in common) and making her sad, angry, and hurt, all at the same time, is her daughter's (_and_ late husband's) specialty.

So it doesn't surprise her that night when Lauren tells her that it's time and that she's leaving. "I'm taking the bike. Don't know when I'll be back." Lauren drones trying to sound like this doesn't hurt her too, like she doesn't care that she's the Red Samurai Ranger, and that her soul purpose in life is to seal away evil, which could potentially destroy her. Meghan's still unaware if Jayden is doing okay (or what he looks like, what he sounds like, how he acts, how tall he is, when'd he loose his first tooth, the list goes _on_) but she's hoping for the best.

"Where will you be next, when this is over?" Her daughter asks packing her things. Meghan stares, they've traveled to many ranger's homes under their protection, and through that time both she and Lauren seemed to start to collect little bits of their lives, of them. To any other normal kid what Lauren was packing was probably a third of the trinkets teens her age have stored in their rooms but it's the only stuff she knows and has. "Mom." The Red Samurai Ranger states drawing Meghan from he spaced out state again.

Shaking her head of her deep and dark thoughts, Meghan tried to think of a place that she'd want to go back to, so that if Lauren returned- _when_ Lauren returned, victorious red ranger and all, she'd be comfortable in braking down and dealing with the obvious Power pull her daughter seemed to also inherit from Reese. "Tommy's." Meghan answered.

Lauren gave her an awkward hug, that maybe was a beat too long, and rode off. That's when Meghan herself broke down. Silently crying and letting the tears roll off her cheeks she whispered, "Why'd it have to be _red."_

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**AN:/ **Sorry for the wait! just was a little spazzed out but now I'm good. Anyway tell me what you think. When I wrote this chapter I re-wrote it more than a few times. The next chapters will jump back and forth between them as teens and how it correlates with being an adult. So it'll be up sooner!


	7. Pink: Got A Secret Can You Keep It?

**AN:/** This chapter is before what has been read so far, so the kids are around eight, and the first generation rangers will be switching back from their adult lives to their teen years. Again I don't own the franchise or any other shows mentioned in this story!

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Got A Secret, Can You Keep It?

**Pink**

The day Eva really appreciates everything her older half-bro has done for her is on his birthday. Usually Aisha or Kat will decide to throw him a birthday party at his house and Eva will show up with the kids to wish Rocky a happy birthday, often with a gift that pokes fun at him ("Remember when all you would wear were vests? Well..."). She can tell that he enjoys the fun and it's the only time he truly doesn't hide any of his past. He'll play with Mike, Nico, and Lex, because he enjoys that they came, not because he feels obligated to, like the rest of their family, who almost never show up to these events anyway, (at least not if Eva's there) and because her brother is in general a good person. Something she takes for granted most days.

One of those days is today. She's got a hectic life and today is no different: teaching music appreciation classes down at the local youth center, making sure her boys are okay and not getting into trouble, helping with organizing for the float that's suppose to go up this month, going to the grocery store, feed the pets of her friends who are out of town, and finally go home. Now normally when Eva pulls up into the drive way she is met with a bunch of hugs from her sons. Not today, which only gets Eva worried for all the wrong reasons. Grabbing the groceries as if nothing is out of the ordinary (never give the enemy the satisfaction of knowing he has the upper hand as Ji would often say), and opening the door with her keys, she yells a distinct "I'm home!" before she realizes that there is a puddle of water coming from the kitchen. Thinking the worst, she drops the groceries on the table and rushes into the kitchen to be met with the sight of her sons all standing around as Rocky tinkers with the sink below.

Eva lets out a sigh. "Hi mommy." Mike turns around to wave at Eva then goes back to watching their uncle.

Getting a bad taste in her mouth Eva looks at the clock to check the time. "Boys go watch Spongebob for me, okay? Mommy has to talk to Uncle Rocky for a sec." Her sons rush out to catch what little of the yellow sponge while they still can. Rocky seems to be ignoring her while she stands, hand on her hip, leaning against the adjacent counter, eyebrow raised, so she takes the initiative. "What are you doing?"

Still trying to work Rocky answers back. "Fixing your sink." He answers back, getting up and wiping his hands on the nearest rag.

"I meant here...?"

He looks up at her and she can tell that something's on his mind, "The boys called. They said they couldn't get a hold of you and that the sink was leaking so I came on over."

"Yeah, I was running errands. Where's your car?" Eva wondered. "I didn't see it in the drive-way."

Rocky shrugged turning around to place the rag on another counter top. "I walked."

The pink ranger was in disbelief. "You _walked_?! All the way here?"

Turning to face her he had his tired grin on his face. "Yeah it was no big deal. Oh, and you don't owe me for the sink."

"Rocky," Eva let out an exasperated whine. "Why are you really here?"

"To help out." He shrugged again. "It's my birthday and I thought 'hey, you actually don't have anything to do, why not go visit your one and only favorite sister?' but Mike beat me to it and called me over." He smiled.

Eva back tracked. "Wait, your birthday's _today_?"

Rocky's smile faltered a little but it was still there. "Yeah. Anyway what's for dinner? I'm **starving**, do you need me to do anything else?"

Eva still standing there perplexed, answered "Not really, and umm tomato basil soup." Her brother nodded before walking out to the living room to watch Spongebob with the boys. Eva had to wonder when exactly she and her brother became the siblings they were today...

* * *

Eva both loved and hated being a ranger. She it loved because it gave her something to do in this town. She lives on the borderline of two cities now, ever since Daddy thought it would be a good idea for her to move in and spend some time with his other family. Their family is messed up enough as it is, what with her mom checking into rehab _again,_ and _having_ to spend her time with the "other family". Daddy and his wife had many kids but when they went through a rough patch her dad went and had a one night stand with her mom. Needless to say they only seem to tolerate that she's here. Mrs. DeSantos is trying but it seems like every time Eva answers one of her questions or makes a decision the woman grinds her teeth. Still, nobody is exactly hostile, just tense.

Which is why she hates being a ranger. Most of the time when she was living with her mom she was too drunk or drugged out to notice if Eva was home taking care of her (Eva was but her mom never noticed if she ever left either) now everyone notices when she disappears! Sure, she could have opted to live at Reese's house ("It has enough rooms for everyone so I don't care.") but what would she say? "Hey I'm going to live with these people I just met and it may look like I'm not trying to be apart of your lives but I really want to! I just have to fight weird henchmen and icky giant monsters first okay? Oh did I mention I was a power ranger?" Yeah that'd go over well.

Nobody cares that Rocky seemed to have disappeared all the time when she came to visit every three months for the last few summers. However, Rocky just started college so for some reason he doesn't do that anymore and now that Eva lives there and she disappears she gets full on interrogated! "Where'd you run off to?" "One moment you were there and the next you weren't?" "Where do you go so badly that you're gone all day?" are the questions she gets from Daddy and Mrs. DeSantos and sometimes the boys...except Rocky, now that she thinks about it. He never questions her but now he's giving her strange looks whenever she returns from ranger business. He didn't used to but now they are becoming more frequent with every excuse and lie she feeds the family.

They don't believe her of course. That becomes apparent when she sneaks in at almost one in the morning and Daddy and Mrs. DeSantos are there to greet her.

"Where were you!?" Daddy asks clearly mad. "We were all having a good time at the park and then you just vanished!"

"How could you have done that Eva, your father was worried sick!" Mrs. DeSantos replies. Eva notices that she didn't mention how worried she was, but the pink ranger bites her tongue.

Before she can even answer with another lie, Mrs. DeSantos goes on. "Are you into drugs Eva?! Is that it?! Is that why you've been sneaking away?! Have you got in contact with your mom's dealer?! I won't tolerate that kind of influence around my kids or in my house!"

Too shocked and tears welling up in her eyes for what was insinuated, Eva can't seem to get out a proper response much less get out the words without chocking up. "I... I, umm-"

Suddenly Rocky unlocks and slowly walks through the door. He seems to take in the scene in front of him, scanning what's going on as everyone stares at him before his eyes land on Eva. She can tell that something is going through his head because he has a strange look in his eyes and then pity before he speaks to her. "Hey, next time could you help me with the groceries?"

Eva doesn't even speak because she's too confused. Turning her head back to Daddy and his wife then back to Rocky she sends him a questioning look.

"Next time we get a late night snack after training _you_ carry them in." He says indicating to the bag at hand.

Eva's still confused but as soon as he mentions training an alarm goes off in her head. "Does he know?!" she thinks.

Daddy sighs, "Rocky, _what_ are you talking about?" he asks as Mrs. DeSantos crosses her arms agitated.

Rocky then proceeds to answer... in spanish. "Cuando todos nos fuimos al parque, le pregunté a Eva si quería ir al centro juvenil conmigo. Lo siento, no te lo dije. Estuvimos allí durante mucho tiempo y cuando finalmente nos decidimos volver tuve hambre. Así que hicimos una parada en la tienda de comestibles. Eva y yo acabamos de volver. No pretendíamos hacer te preocupes.*****"

Something that has always agitated her, was that even though she was Hispanic her mother never really taught her. She recognizes the language because her mom would go off on a tangent when she was drunk and Daddy never speaks to her in spanish because he assumes she doesn't know. She does however know what they are saying. Her mom and her did use to live in a tight Mexican-American community so she picked up on it but never spoke it towards the family. Still, it bothers her that when they want to exclude her they use another language assuming she doesn't know what they are saying. Mrs. DeSantos likes to do this constantly with her to the boys but Eva doesn't let it get to her. It just gives her inside knowledge to what they are saying.

Mrs. DeSantos answers back. "Gracias Rocky, pero la próxima vez que usted necesita para decirnos estas cosas. Que utilizó para hacer la misma cosa, lo sé, pero ya sabes Eva y su madre. Ellos hacen cosas que no pueden ser ayudados.******"

Eva was about to answer when Rocky suddenly sticks up for her again. Weird. "¿Por qué sigues diciendo eso todo el tiempo mamá? Eva no ha hecho nada a usted! Al menos podrías ser un poco amable con ella!*******"

Finally Eva's had enough. "Escucha, si vas a hablar de mí como si yo no estoy aquí, entonces, tal vez será mejor que me vaya, mañana!" With that she stomps up the stairs and into her room.

* * *

Eva looks up from the soup to check the time. Glancing at the boys in the living room she knows that they're ready to eat. "Dinner's done!" she calls out and watches as there eyes come alive with hunger. Rushing to the table everyone except Mike starts munching on the grilled cheese, tomato basil soup, and salad on there plates. This surprises the pink because much like there uncle the boys tend to _only_ have food on there mind, so if there's conversation Eva's usually the one to start it and the boys won't normally answer until four gulps later. Mike, however, hasn't touched his food.

"Mike, sweetheart, what's wrong?" Eva asks perplexed.

Her son swiftly throws a glance at Rocky and then goes back took staring at his food as he picks at it. This doesn't go unnoticed. "I'm not very hungry," Mike answers. "May I go to bed early?"

Eva's already suspicious at her brother but he never meets her gaze while he's eating. "Sure baby, I'll come in to tuck you in in a while." Mike nods then leaves the table.

Eva is still watching her brother but his attack on the dinner is endless, still... "Nico? Lex?" Both boys look up with there mouths full seeming to be mid chew. "Can you go and eat in the living room? I need to talk to Uncle Rocky."

Lex, her youngest jumps happily, punching the air in excitment. "Sweet! We get to eat in the living room!"

Nico, her middle child and also her troublemaker recognizes his mother's tone immediately, becomes wide-eyed, and rushes out to join his brother, but not before stopping to talk to Rocky. "_I _get 7 minuets in time-out because I'm 7 years old. How old are _you_ Uncle Rocky?"

"Nico." Eva warns.

Sticking his hand out the boy, pushes forward. "I'll miss you Rocky."

Eva rolls her eyes. "_Nico_." she warns one last time. Getting the hint her curly haired son all but sprints to meet up with his younger brother. Once finally out she zeros in on _her_ brother. "Why is Mike glum?"

Rocky shrugs stabbing a fork into his salad. "Because the sink didn't need fixing and he knows it."

"Um, okay..." Eva's now even more confused. "So why did you come over to break then fix it again?"

"Why didn't you just call me? If you needed someone to watch them you didn't have to get that girl across the street?"

"Is that why she wasn't here when I got home!? Did you scare her off?"

"No! I just paid her and she left."

Eva groaned. It took her forever to find a good baby-sitter, and she was right across the street too! Knowing her brother though, there isn't a doubt in her mind that the girl wasn't intimidated by Rocky just a little bit before she left. "You can't do that Rocky! I can't have you just drop what you're doing to help me."

"And why not?" Her older brother asked.

Eva was on her last fuse though. "**Because I don't need you to bail me out anymore!**"

Rocky sat there. She never could tell what he was thinking when he got all quiet like this. "You're right." He finally answered. "You don't need me to bail you out anymore." and with a last testament Eva felt guilty. "Thanks karma my little sister can handle herself. Happy birthday me."

* * *

Eva was lucky enough the next morning to slip out of the house, early before anyone saw her or was up. As she ran threw the park she listened to her iPod and watched the vacant scenery around her. Many people aren't up at the crack of dawn to do things on a Saturday but here she was. After she was done she found the nearest park bench to sit down and think. The pink ranger knew that if she was going to make the most of living with Daddy's family then she had to come up with better reasons to escape when she could. She just didn't know how. Taking her morpher phone out of her pocket she punched in Sadie's number. Through the course of these couple of months Sadie and her seem to become friends. It even went so far as Eva calling her last night to calm her down. The girl had some problems of her own as well but she didn't mind that Eva needed some girl to girl advice. Eva looked at the number before finally deciding to close the morpher. Suddenly someone sat down on the bench beside her.

"You followed me." Eva stated.

"Followed is such a strong word. I think being aware of where you were going is a better term." Rocky gave his winning grin.

They sat there, in silence for a beat, before Eva finally spoke again. "Why'd you cover for me yesterday? I didn't go train with you at the gym and we didn't go to the grocery store together. So why'd you convince them that we did?"

"My mom isn't exactly the easiest person to love, and she's really not giving you much of a chance. Plus dad seems happier that you're here." Rubbing the back of his head he went on. "I don't think they voice it very much but they've always wanted a daughter. When dad found out that he got your mom pregnant and with a girl, he wasn't sure what to feel, I think my mom is just jealous."

"Oh." Eva said. "That still doesn't explain why you covered for me. For all you know I could have been 'taking drugs like my mom' as your mother so bluntly accused me of last night."

"Yet again, jealous." Rocky pointed out. "And I bailed you out because you're my sister now. I may not ask why you leave at odd hours of the day, and believe me, I don't need to know, but that's what I'm here for." He finished off in a grin. "To make sure that when you make it home you've got someone to back you up." Rocky winked.

Eva was speechless. Just as she was about to reciprocate her morpher went off. Stunned she took it and gave Rocky a questioning gaze as he stared at her. Opening her phone she heard Parry on the other line. "Yeah?"

"Eva! Gotta come! We've got trouble! Where are you?"

"The park." She answered keeping her answers short so that Rocky wouldn't catch on to anything she said.

"Meet us at the arcade! Quick!"

"Okay." She responded before ending the call. Turning back to Rocky she explained. "I've got to go..."

"With me to pick up some things from my school. I completely forgot about a paper and you asked to come. Right?" He asked her.

"Right..." Eva said catching on. "Thanks, Rocky." and then she ran off.

* * *

After tucking Mike, Nico, and Lex in and putting away the left over food Eva headed over to the couch and plopped herself down next to her big brother. "What are you watching?"

Not taking his eyes off the screen the former pink could tell that Rocky was pouting. "Whose Line Is It Anyway."

"Hmm." Eva agreed. " I love this show it's so funny."

"Mmmhmn." Rocky nodded. They sat like that for awhile occasionally laughing out loud when it was called for.

"Rocky?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"I know." He replied with a smile on his face.

"Oh and Rocky?"

"Huh?"

"Happy Birthday." Eva told him dumping a present on his lap and pecking him on the cheek before going to bed upstairs.

Rocky unwrapped the gift to find a t-shirt that said '#1 Brother' and on the back it said 'From the Annoyed Younger Sisters Association!'. He smiled.

* * *

Eva and the other's hit the giant monster that was attacking straight on and it went down. After getting out of the Zord, fixing her appearance and saying see ya later, Eva ran back to the park where Rocky was sitting.

"Hey since the day is still young do you want to meet some of my friends right now?" He asked her once she slowed down. "I'm sure they would love to give you some pointers on your technique and I don't even have to tell them what you do in your spare time."

"Technique?"

Rocky's ape grin grew wider. "You're a little off balance when you spin kick pinky."

Eva's mouth dropped to the floor. "How did you-"

Rocky took out something and tossed it to her. If you hadn't known what ranger technology looked like anyone could have taken this for a piece of junk, but Eva knew. "You're-"

"I _was_ the red and then a blue." He answered back. "I'm just full of surprises young grasshopper." He winked.

Eva finally recovering from this revelation rolled her eyes. "More like full of hot air." Smiling she began to walk with him.

Of course Rocky had to get the last word. "I didn't know you spoke Spanish!"

Eva both hated and loved being a ranger. She hated it because then she had to deal with her family. She loved it because she can deal with her family.

* * *

**AN:/** So I promised for flashbacks and flashfowards of the rangers and how hard it was being one at the time and I think I did a good job for Eva so far (plus I went heavy on the family dynamic with Rocky mostly because while he is a relation he's not going to be that much of a big part of the story but he'll still be important.) I really wanted to get this one out there though because it will tie in to something bigger later. Most of the translations I got from Google Translate but if there is anything that doesn't look right then I'm sorry. Anyway reviews are welcome here ; )

^Listen, if you're going to talk about me as if I'm not here then maybe it'll be best if I leave, tomorrow!

***Why do you keep saying that all the time mom? Eva hasn't done anything to you! You could at least be somewhat kind to her!

**Thank you Rocky, but next time you need to tell us these things. You used to do the same thing, I know, but you know Eva and her mother. They do things that can't be helped.

*When we all went to the park, I asked Eva if she wanted to go to the youth center with me. Sorry I didn't tell you. We were there for a long time and when we finally decided to head back I was hungry. So we made a stop at the grocery store. Eva and I just got back. We didn't mean to make you worry.


	8. Red: You Give Love A Bad Name

**AN/:** So I apologize in advance for taking so long with this chapter. I have no excuses, just life. Anyway it's this chapter that I have to forewarn everyone about because this one is the reason it's rating is the one it is. While what goes on doesn't go into detail, it does allude to some serious things. Later on the rating might go up because with what I have in mind that's where it is headed to (for different reasons maybe) but you never know. So I'm sorry to any readers I might loose in the process.

* * *

You Give Love A Bad Name!

**Red**

Meghan doesn't have any difficulties with being moved around like someone on the run from danger, even if that is what she and her daughter are, it's just that she has a hard time adjusting to other rangers. They all are generally good people, the best anyone could ask for but they remind her _too_ much of her team back home. Yellows are firm and headstrong but also helpful and encouraging. Blues are often perceptive and resourceful with a bit of playfulness and curiosity. Pinks are open and comforting, hopeful and downright empathetic. Reds are the worst. They are everything that she is, everything that Reese was and everything that a ranger leader can be. That still doesn't make it any easier.

Meghan has some inkling of hope that Lauren won't ever be a red but that's unrealistic thinking. In truth, it doesn't even take the fact that both Meghan and Reese were previous reds. All's it takes is an influence. Lauren is only 9 years old and already she knows how to take down fully grown men twice her size. They've stayed at multiple rangers homes, never more than 6 months, and always ready to pack up and leave if need be. Currently they are at Carlos' humble abode. He's nice, a little reserved and maybe just a little too much of reminder of a certain country boy that she used to join in on teasing. They won't be there long.

* * *

Meghan understands the biology behind it. He's frustrated and pent up and she just happened to be there at the wrong, or right time, depending on how you look at, but then again she's no slut.

It happens after her most recent heated fight with the other Red Samurai. She hasn't been apart of the team long, hell, she just barely moved in about a month ago! These guys have been a team for five months, almost half a year. They know how to help each other, they've grown into calling themselves friends. She's the outsider whom they are choosing to trust, and they are making more of an effort than she's ever made in her life. Still, next to the jackass that can only be known as Reese, their fearless leader, Parry, the green of their team, is the one that's putting in very little to some semblance of a friendship. So when she finds him hunched over, redfaced, and breathing hard on a workout bench in one of the practice rooms, Meghan feels a pull of... well she's not exactly sure. She walks over to find his hands all battered up and bleeding from the knuckles, sits down beside him and takes the wrap bandaging from underneath the bench that's always stored for times like this.

"You're mad." It's not a question but a statement as she starts to grab his numb hands puts the anti-bacterial ointment on.

"Shit." He hisses and flinches in pain and she doesn't blame him, before she came here bandaging herself up was a regular thing, she knows how it stings. Once she's rubbed it in and let it sit for awhile she gets the spray bottle full of water and soothes that on. He's still not looking at her, choosing instead to clench his jaw and gaze forward deep in thought.

Normally not one for small talk, Meghan prefers conversation that can keep her and her opponent on their toes, a challenge, but this red knows when something doesn't come out letting it sit is worse than hitting a wall...which explains the soon to be bruised hands. Sighing she tried channeling Eva's comfort. "Why'd you hurt yourself, Parry?" She asked exasperatedly, trying not to sound to condescending but no one just hits a wall for no reason.

He didn't answer for a beat. It was then that the Red Samurai Ranger came to the conclusion that brooding awkwardly worked for him. Well maybe brooding was too strong. Parry had too much of a childlike face and he was smaller. Not exactly small just _smaller_, like his muscles and mind were maturing but his body wasn't up to speed yet. The guy was bulky and attitude was difficult to pinpoint but it didn't seem to mesh exactly right. So no, brooding didn't fit but neither did self pity either. Like his physique he was an in-between.

"Sadie told me to feel something," Turning his head to stare her down, Meghan felt uncomfortable. Not the scared kind, because she doesn't get scared very easily, nor was it the kind where she wanted to pound him into the nearest wall and induce a coma, like whenever she got uncomfortable around Reese, no this was almost secretive. Like she shouldn't be hearing what she stumbled into but he's forcing it on her anyway because she asked for it. Briefly, Meghan remembered her fellow pink mentioning something about Parry being _"emotionally unbalanced"_ but dismissed it because she's seen him fight (if anyone's unbalanced in the emotional department then she's not one to judge either way) and he's good. "So I did." Parry finished un-phased staring her down.

"Too scared?" Meghan asked referring to him feeling anything or lack of.

Parry scoffed. "To numb." he told her bitterly.

Meghan looked more closely at his hands, examining and turning them over carefully. "In what we...do, it's okay to be unfeeling. Towards the enemy. Not feeling anything afterward might compromise your ability to actually focus on the enemy." He nodded slowly watching how she shifted her hands with his own. "So, what _do_ you feel?" She inquired, going back to staring into him.

Parry's smirk came through as he scoffed once more with mischief in his eyes once more. Meghan noted that they weren't as bright so he wasn't healed but he could learn to begin healing. "I feel worn and old but young and anxious."

"Good." She nodded confirming. "That's how we all feel right now. What do feel with everyone else? Eva?"

Parry rolled his eyes. "Old and sane. That's how I feel around Pinky."

Meghan smirked along but kept going. "I feel happier around her. She's uplifting."

Parry rolled his eyes again but with good nature. "Yeah, I guess."

The red hummed trying to keep this going. "And Baron? I find him tactful and with good intent."

"You'd have to in order to not want to strangle him, you know, when he gets all arrogant." The green joked.

Meghan slowly showed a small smile. "Alright, Sadie?"

"Can't ever just think 'hey maybe this won't be so bad' without the 'well this, this, and this, will happen'."

"She's grounded," Meghan pointed out. "And good at keeping everyone levelheaded."

Parry shook his head smiling. "Alright, Reese?"

Meghan tried to give an unbiased answer._ Tried_. "He's...a good leader, when he wants to lead that is. Very...straightforward and never misleads you with what he thinks you deserves. He's...willing to push everyone."

Parry's crooked smile was unfaltering. "Yeah, he's a dick."

"Yes, yes he is." Meghan said finally happy to get that out in the air. Glancing back at his hands then back to him she could still see the broken in him trying to mend. They were all broken but today, for some reason, Parry seemed more so. Something Sadie said had struck a chord. Meghan's not exactly the happy camper herself, what with her recent scream out with Reese and her own mental issues right now more than ever both her and Parry need a distraction. It comes into her head quickly. She knows they are both in different leagues and in fact if it wasn't for this team then they wouldn't have ever had contact with each other because they're too different of people to run in the same social circles. Still the moment it enters her head she can't say that it_ wouldn't_ be beneficial. Pent up energy, hurting, distractions, and broken people. Sure she's experienced more so than him she can just tell but they need this and honestly as long as it doesn't throw off the group dynamic then it's not like things will be any different between them.

Slowly moving closer, she moves her legs over his so that she's straddling him. He gazes at her in surprise but that doesn't stop him from putting his hands on her hips as his fingers dip between her black skirt and red shirt as his fingers graze her skin. Lacing her hands together behind his neck she looks at him. "I don't need a relationship." She tells him straight up. "Neither do you. We just need to forget for a sec."

"Fine by me." he breathes before sucking on her neck. "I know who you're good for, anyway." He tells her into her skin leaving Meghan slightly confused before he distracts her by making out. In no time, things become more heated and Meghan thanks whatever power that there is that it's the middle of the night, during a storm, on the other side of the Shiba house from the sleeping quarters. Soon they're feeling together and trying to make sense of life through this and it's not wrong but it definitely doesn't feel 100% right. It's primal and nothing more or less. When it's all over and the two teens find themselves in a heap on one of the mats of the floor with their clothes surrounding them Meghan knows that they'll be alright.

Both panting from their high laying side by side, Parry is the first to speak. "You. Are _definitely_ making a guy happy, in the future."

Gulping for air Meghan puts a hot hand to her sweat forehead to gauge how long until she's back to regulated temperature. "Thanks."

"No problem." He answers back. "Thank you for...you know."

"Yeah." She says, breath slowing down.

"We're not, umm, together...right?" Parry asks her cautiously.

Meghan brings both her hands to cover her eyes in embarassment. "No! God, no. Just..."

"Good." he said sounding relieved. "I mean no offense," the green backtracked. "I'm into you, any guy with a pair of working eyes is, and tonight was _wow,_ but I'm not into _us_."

Removing her hands she scooted closer so that they were spooning. "Good, neither am I." She smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled their clothes into a makeshift covering.

Yawning, he retorted. "I know. I know who you're good for."

Meghan frowned a bit remembering that he had mentioned that earlier. "What do you mean?"

Parry smiled with his eyes close, "Ask me again in a few years, okay?"

Meghan shrugged and let sleep take her. Not once thinking about the subject anymore.

* * *

By the time Lauren is 12 she has perception and insight that most people would be scared of. Especially Meghan. So when they are moved into Tommy Oliver's house for safety things suddenly become World War III. On general principle, if given the choice, which they hardly ever do, Meghan will steer away from boarding with a fellow red ranger. She doesn't have anything against them, well, not completely but they remind her _way_ to much of herself and _Reese_. Damn him and all that he is- was! Reds are the worst. They are strong willed, have a stubborn opinion, often feel the need to show off and prove themselves, always take charge, and see things for how they are. They're the natural leaders of life and most of the time they don't even know but after one person convinces them they'll take it in stride. They are everything she is so they know how she functions. It was bad enough when her husband and her were teens but being with other reds: she's screwed. Badly.

* * *

"Don't walk away like this is some kind of debate, Croshmen!" Reese half yelled seething in anger.

"Right!" She answered back, not bothering to turn around as he followed her, stomping down the hall. "Like you were about to with those civilians!" Throwing open her door to her room she dumped her bag and leather jacket that she'd been wearing onto her bed. Running her hands through her long thick golden hair she huffed, closing her eyes tight, in frustration, and letting out a breath, in anger.

"I gave you a direct order!" Opening and rolling her eyes, Meghan turned around with her hands on her hips and pursed lips to face him.

Reese was no worse than she was and that was saying something. Her long sleeve red lace top had a gash with an open cut extending from her left shoulder, twisting over to her middle back right over the spine. Another rip was seen on the right side towards the bottom of her shirt to the top of her jeans; a scratch in Meghan's eyes but from the blood (not as much as she expected) on her hip bone that would probably require small stitching. The normally fitting clean blue jeans were tussled with dirt and _feet,_ if those weird minions even have such things, marks that will undoubtedly show bruises once her jeans come off. Reese is just as bad with three slash marks going through the back of his long sleeve red shirt. A gash with dried blood has dripped from the side of his head and that portion of his hair is matted with it. Reese is also patterned with marks of dirt from the drones punches and kicks because for some reason being leader means those things want to take you out more than the others. She has a high suspicion that if he takes his shirt off purple bruising will have already showed itself on his toned skin too. They weren't as bad as the others though.

"Yeah, I'm sure _**death**_ is a great order!" Trying to show how ridiculous he sounded she started to imitate him. "Hey Croshmen, you see those civilians? Yeah? Forget them. Focus on taking down the bad guys not getting the potential victims out of the way before the enemies _**murder**_ them!"

Reese glowered at the girl. "You don't know that that would have happened!"

Getting up in his face she suddenly realized the half a head height difference that he had to his advantage. "Yeah? Well neither do you!" Meghan told him poking him in the chest. "They could have died or they couldn't, the point is that we don't ever know!"

Not backing down from her intense glare he matched it. "So disobeying a direct order from your leader is the right way to go about it?!"

"Newsflash Shiba! You're. Not. My. Leader!" Pushing him so hard that he was just outside of the door frame Meghan stomped over and grabbed the handle. Dropping her voice so that it was clear, low, and downright menacing Meghan was sure she was about to threaten his life. "Let's get one thing straight here. _I'm_ the wild card in this whole damn battle. _I'm_ the one that these Nighlocks count on because I'm you're _team's_ reinforcement. I wasn't _suppose to_ be here and it's pretty obvious that _you_ don't want me here. My family has been out of the samurai business since my grandmother and that was all fine and dandy with me. She taught me everything I know and _I know_ that it's better than what you've been taught. I'm not here as a favor for you.I'm _here_ as a favor for Ji and my grandmother because up until several years ago I'd been living and training with her. Then she up and died and I had to live with a pitiful deadbeat of a father. Stayed with him for about 3 months then I ran first chance I had. The_ only_ reason it took me so long to get here is because Ji had to contact me from the last place I was staying. Well, I'm here now and it looks like I'm one of your most important players in this game, otherwise Ji wouldn't have sought me out. Oh and Reese? I'm not going anywhere."

Meghan waited and watched for his reaction. Not a lot of things surprise her and right there, that speech she just gave, should have made him run for the hills, but the slow menacing smirk that started to form on his lips threw her for a loop. Bending a little, hands in pockets, barely touching her, and breath hot next to her ear, Reese whispered. "There's _no_ way that you believe half of what you said." He chuckled condescendingly as her eyes grew wide and she stood paralyzed on the spot. "You really think you're a key player? A _wild card_? I _know_ why your family hasn't been in the samurai business...because they disgraced it." Meghan would have gasped if she was Eva or the type to do so but she was in shock from what he knew. "You're not some last hope Ji called out because he thought we could use it. You're a pawn. A distraction, really." Pulling back he kept his smirk and looked her dead in the eyes. "I mean, how confusing would it be for the enemy to see two red rangers...but only one can seal them away?" Meghan, still frozen in place was speechless. "It's a great idea, don't you think? Serving as a sacrificial lamb." And with that he walked away.

* * *

She didn't mind Tommy. In fact she would even call them friends. Except friendships don't usually end with them both in bed after a good uh..._intimate, _activity. She didn't really mean for it to end up like this. In the beginning they were just good acquaintances, really only actually knowing each other because of Eva and Rocky being related. They'd met a couple times when Rocky suggested that they all hang out for a get together years back. It was even fun. Rocky had only invited several people that he knew could come: Adam, Tanya, Justin, Jason, Tommy, and her team. This was before Reese had done the seal but just before she and Reese had even truly gotten together so she must have just turned 18. They had had conversations and it wasn't really a big deal at the time, things had just been easier. Sure, she thought that Tommy was hot, all the male rangers have good looks. Not drop dead gorgeous underwear super models but they were definitely above average looking even when they were younger and at their most awkward. Basically you could pick them out of a crowd. However Reds seemed to be her personal preference in what she finds most attractive. As if her late husband wasn't bad enough.

She'd help bring in any groceries that he might have had and sometimes even joked with him on how different it is to not be in a suit anymore (even though she still get major Power magnetism vibes from him) and he'd joke back. Then they'd have training sessions and she swears that the first time she saw him shirtless was _not_ in bed. Damn reds and their physique.

Meghan can't take all the blame though. She knows since the time that he last saw her she has grown. This red woman knows how people saw her when she was younger and now it's just ten times that amount. Needless to say she caught him ogling her too when they were training. That's how it started too! They were in a training session and he was helping her with her balance work on a move that she has always been a little off on (Reese used to try to help her with that one too but it would usually end up with him laughing how she can't take instruction no matter how many times he tried to help her and them getting into a fight which would lead to angry sex), the next thing she knows is that his hands are feeling really warm and good on her exposed midsection with trying to adjust her hips in the stance and then it's "Tommy do you think you could help me with that some more?" or "I don't think my waist is in the right position." and then it led to a massage that felt really good because he didn't think she was loose enough there. That turned into a slow make out and then what do you know they're doing it in his room while Lauren is just down the hall taking a nap from her training.

Only thing that Meghan is certain of is that it is no where near love. In fact it's not even need or distraction like that one time with Parry. It's a whisper of forgetting and replacement. Him for Reese and her for Kim and Kat. She's heard the stories and he still talks to his friends often so Meghan's sure that he's heard hers. She doesn't call him Handsome or try to be more than what she's expected for him and he doesn't fool with her emotions and toy with her last name like it's his birthright. They have a balance that they like but not probably wouldn't keep if the opportunity presented itself they both know it even if they don't say out loud to each other. There's something that tells her in the back of her mind that they could probably grow to love one another and she has a gut feeling that a voice is telling him that too. Hell, they could have truly been perfect from the beginning if they had met one another first instead of those that they hold onto. It works though and for a little while they're a little happy.

What's good never lasts in her world, as she's learned quickly. Lauren is well beyond her years and it's apparent that she notices things. Suddenly Tommy's not just helping her with her on the go home schooling studies but also everything almost as more than just a mentor.

"Want to go to the park?" Tommy asks her one afternoon.

Lauren gives him a pointed look. "You're joking, right?"

Tommy just shakes his head and smiles. "Of course not." He says grabbing his keys hoping she'll say yes. "Every kid needs some down time even when they're fighting evil. Come on."

Lauren pauses from the couch and looks at him skeptically as if he's testing her. "Sure." she says, slowly giving in. "It might be fun."

"Want to go Meghan?" Tommy asks her as she's in the chair near the couch looking at some old scrolls.

He's smiling at her fondly and she unconsciously tucks a hair behind her ear, sending a small smile of her own. "Why not." and that seems to be the end of it because Meghan really thinks nothing of the fact that her daughter is watching this little exchange. Honestly, it's just a friendly conformation but Lauren is wise beyond her years and she's learned how to keep her face passive while still being able to analyze what's going on around her. She's a good actress, like her mother. So good, in fact, that when all three of them get to the park Meghan doesn't really think too much about how Lauren seems to walk just far enough ahead so that it gives Tommy and herself the illusion of having their own private conversation, if they want to, but just within earshot to hear anything that they might say and still have a fascination about her surroundings that neither of the former rangers would catch on to what she was doing. Meghan doesn't put the pieces together by how much Lauren thinks a line has been crossed until much later.

It goes on like this for a bit. Meghan should really give her girl credit for how long she let it go on and Meghan not being able to notice that she disapproved of it. They fall into a bit of a pattern which would have never happened had Reese still been alive. He hated consistency save for when he improves at something. Doing something over and over again was definitely synonyms with boring in her husbands book. Once this all comes out into the open Meghan sees that it's the same way for Laurent too. The point though it comes out into the open. Hard.

"Sorry about the wait, Lauren." Tommy says walking into the living room as she's studying a samurai character that she wants to practice. "My nap was longer than I anticipated. Ready to spar?"

"Sure." She answers back, standing up to walk past him, face almost a little peeved looking. "Hope mom didn't wear you out." Lauren states bluntly as she passes him.

Tommy becomes confused as she rounds the corner. "What?" He questions following after her.

Rolling her eyes she turns around slowly. "I'm sorry," she tells him obviously not sorry. "What I meant to say was that I hope your pre-workout with my mom doesn't cause you to strain a muscle when you stretch."

"Right." Tommy answers back skeptically. "I told you I was taking a nap. Not training with your mother."

"Of course." She nods as if talking to a child younger than herself. "I mean there's never any actual training involved so-"

Tommy shakes his head not believing that this is happening. "What's gotten into you?"

Lauren scoffs at this crossing her arms. "I think the appropriate question here is what's gotten into _you_?" She indicates to the former ranger. "Or rather _who_? 'Cause as far as I know, banging on of the people that you're supposed to be protecting? Well- some people may find that you'd be compromised." Tommy stands there in wonder on how a 12 year old girl seems to be powerful enough to make Tommy question himself. Lauren rolls her eyes and prepares to stalk towards her room. "When you and my mother stop acting like idiots and remember what's really at stake here isn't just me and her, then we can spar." And she left him more dumbfounded than ever.

After Tommy shakes Meghan from her slumber on his bed and she calms him down enough for him to tell her what just happened, the red woman throws on some clothes and rushes to her daughter's temporary room. "What the _hell_ Lauren?!"

"A 'hello' to you too mom." the girl says not bothering to look up from another scroll as she sits on her bed.

"Why did you say those things to Tommy!?" Meghan asks still not knowing what's going on with her daughter.

Sighing and getting off her bed Lauren walks over to stand in front of her mother with hands on her hips. "Mom, I'm almost 13 not stupid. You and Tommy Oliver have sex and it's clouding both of your judgment."

God never had Meghan felt old but right now was not a good start when she's getting talked down to ("Damn it Reese!" by her own baby. "Are you jealous?! Is that what this is about?!" Meghan asked before crouching down to Lauren's height and rubbing her arms up and down with her hands comfortingly. "Because there is nothing to be jealous about Lauren." She tells the girl in a calmer tone while the girl stares at her. "I will always love you and nothing will change that. Especially if someone else enters the picture you'll always come first. No matter where we go or what we're doing you and I... well you'll always be my first priority."

Lauren just looks at her. Then her inner father comes out. "Wow. That was almost believable." Meghan's eyes widen at her the young girl's statement. "Tell me mom was I your priority last night? No? How about half an hour ago?" Meghan is about to speak when Lauren cuts her off. "Because as far as I know you haven't once been on your guard since this whole _thing_ with Tommy Oliver started. In fact neither of you have. Another thing mother, you seem to have your priorities in the wrong place, because I _shouldn't_ be your first one. _Jayden_ should be. Or have you forgotten that you're only going to have one child after this is all over." Meghan still couldn't utter a word. "Yeah mom, in fact, have you or Tommy even realized that you're overlooking the reason why we're here in the first place because from what I've been told since I was little is that I'm protecting the world from an evil that'll one day resurface, right?" Meghan couldn't believe it. "No answer?" Lauren was worse than her father; she was Meghan. "You can leave now." Lauren indicated with her head before turning back to her scroll on the bed.

They left for Cassie Chan's house the next morning.

* * *

**AN/:** Well what do you know? Two ANs in one chapter! Haha anyway I'm really conflicted about this chapter. On the one hand you got a look into Meghan's background and a glimpse of where she's coming from and on the other I may have made Reese to look like an a-hole. I know what some of you are thinking:

"But wait! Reese told Meghan that _she_ was the pawn ranger in her time but Jayden is the pawn ranger in the series so what does that mean?"

All's I can say is that it'll all be explained ;) Goodness this stuff is getting angsty and heavy. Another problem I have about this chapter is that I make Lauren out to be a bit much for such a young 12 year old. If you're confused about some of that then jump back to the AN in chapter 1 because that explains what I'm picturing for when we hit Lauren's age in the series also I've changed Reese's look as well. On a good note I got the Tommy tie dynamic in there which will come into play later and is important. Also this is **NOT** a Tommy/OC story (just easing some of the worries of others out there) it's just that he is a domino in some major decisions the rangers have like Rocky and a few more. This is more than just a prequel to the samurai rangers. It's also a tightly woven network of rangers who may or may not be the reason behind some things that could lead to Megaforce...

And with that I leave your brains churning!


	9. Yellow&Green: I'm Friends With A Monster

**I'm Friends With The Monster That's Under My Bed**

**Yellow**

Out of all the things that Sadie is recognized for, being a ranger isn't one of them. It just doesn't happen. Ji and the rest of the team as well as herself made sure that they were careful in protecting their identities. That still doesn't stop her surprise when she's out at the market, picking out a mango or something so insignificant that she can't even figure out later why she felt the need to go cook, she _hates_ cooking with a passion. Never the less, she was looking over the various fruit, trying to determine which out of them was good, when an almost terrifying discovery is made.

"How much for the mango?" Sadie asks, still examining the fruit in her hand, skeptically.

"$1.79." The voice of a younger boy tells her. She's about to debate and barter with him when she looks up and is instantly hit with a warped sense of deja vu.

* * *

Right upper cut. Side sweep. Smash. Thunk. Swoosh. _Crack._ Sadie had been fighting these guys off for a good five minutes already and the others had yet to arrive. She's not complaining but she does believe that if everyone expects to one day reach peace in this little city then they are going to have to get their butts in gear. _Now!_

These little distractions that the _real_ monsters send are sometimes a warm up, if she's not taking on all fifteen of them at once but Sadie reminds herself that she needs to build more stamina anyway. She over estimates one of them and ends up hitting the ground. Groaning, Sadie bounces back as much as her body will allow so not to get whiplash and make these pod people think they have the upper hand.

It then dawns on her that the others aren't coming and maybe that's what the enemy wants. Target them individually so that they become overwhelmed and loose a little of their need to rely on one another. It's perfect really, so much so that it hurts, the proof is in her bruising that she already feels surfacing on her sore skin. The real monster behind this charade comes into play.

"Yellow Samurai Ranger! I am-" _Blah Blah Blah_ is all she thinks. Sadie even hears in passing the whole "and I will destroy you!" bit but she's too busy to pay attention. After all, none of these guys have any originality. Wake up, get into a dilemma, try to fix that dilemma, run into bad guy lackies, fight off said lackies, come face to face with the real puppet master, thwart his small scale plan, he takes it to the next level and, from _out of nowhere_, has the ability to grow into a godzilla sized ugly, they call the Zords, enemy of the day defeated, go home, and internally wonder how in the world her life became a infinity loop of a satire.

When he's done with his speech she waits for his goonies to fall back but they don't. Without warning a kid burst forward from a brush in the trees. Now her priorities have flipped. At first it was just get it done and go home. Now it's get the unnecessary victim out of the way.

"You're the Yellow Samurai Ranger! Please, help me!" She doesn't know what the child could possibly talking about when she realizes that his arm is bending at an awkward angle. Wanting to become a doctor (if this battle ever ends) and having seen enough of her teammates injuries to determine what could be wrong, Sadie doesn't just see a broken arm. She sees a bunch of splinter fractures and blood veins oozing from underneath the surface of his skin causing that sickly purple color that outlines his vessels and gives the translucent color.

He must be in medical shock because there's a vacant look in his eyes that tells Sadie that the 8 year old looking boy isn't all there at the moment. Punching the goon extra hard, Sadie rushes over to the kid and blocks his view as she takes the defensive position.

He's moving faster into shock, she can tell, because beforehand he could make sense of what was going on around him but now when she tries to console him he doesn't say a word. "Hey kid can you run to South Pariahs Street?" Nothing. Not knowing what to do. She does whatever she can think of. Making a symbol he becomes sheltered in something or other, she herself isn't really paying attention because it's in that moment the monsters start beating the living daylights out of her.

Sadie wakes up dazed and not exactly sure of when she passed out. Unmorphed she's now helpless but it doesn't matter parts and wreckage of what took place are strung around the back lot. The guts (if you could call them that) of those she just fought are lying before her and she shudders. Picking herself up slowly she feels an open wound on her forehead.

"Well that explains the dry blood." Sadie whispers while examining her once beautiful water-colored yellow blouse as it now is stained with her DNA. She turns to the hut and lets out a sarcastic laugh. She doesn't ever remember reading the symbol for hut but whatever she was thinking when she willed it to appear obviously had to do with sleep. The "hut" is a bunch of mattresses smattered together. Limping over to the pile of mattresses she pulls back one to find the little boy pale and unconscious. Grabbing him and hauling him over her shoulder as best as she could she starts to limp towards the nearest hospital.

When she drops him off she explains to the nurse that they got caught in the crossfire of a battle between the good and the bad, which really isn't too far off. The emergency staff rush him off to the IC unit and in all of the bustle, Sadie wanders out before anyone tries to help her. It's never really been said out in the open but being on The Morphing Grid...it does something to your body. They all heal more quickly than others, sure they still get hurt but what normally take someone a month to feel even remotely close to 100% takes them only about a week. Sadie may be studying the human body but if anyone else were to get a hold of a sample of their genes it might lead to some unsuspecting results.

Wobbling all the way to the Shiba house, Sadie opened the door and let out a sigh of relief to find that the others were gathered there also looking as bad as she felt.

"No growth spurt today, I guess?" Sadie groaned. The others just shook their heads as they were helping each other in bandaging themselves up.

* * *

Seeing the boy as a teen now made Sadie feel way too freaked out. Yeah she had seen many civilians over the course of her years that she had saved but this kid, this one kid, she never did like how she just left him so easily at a hospital without even knowing if he'd wake up or if his parents came to get him.

"Miss?" The boy asked seemingly weirded out by her blatant staring.

"Sorry!" She told him, shaking her head trying to erase the memory. "You just reminded me of someone there."

"Okay... um are you going to buy that?" Nodding in response she passed the money to him and headed home.

Suddenly feeling no urge to cook Sadie laid down on her bed and dozed off. When she woke up there was an eerie quietness to the house. Venturing out, she was ill prepared for the scene in front of her. It was Parry and he was talking quietly to her husband as they both leaned against the kitchen counter. "What's going on?"

"Sadie!" Lou beams at her happily. He of course doesn't know that he was just talking peacefully to the one person that Sadie herself can't have a normal conversation with if it's just the two of them. "Your _friend in green_," Sadie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Oh how subtle her husband thought he was. _Not._ "came over and wanted to talk to you about something important." Sadie faked a smile. "Well?" Lou questioned. Sadie sent him a confused look. "Aren't you going to welcome him?"

Turning and giving a curt nod, she addressed he ex-teammate curtly. "Parry."

Her green friend returned the greeting with the same demur. "Sadie."

Neither one said anything for a while. Their was too much to say and not enough. Back when they were younger it wasn't like this at all. Quite the opposite in fact. It was the team that had strong connections with each other when everything was done but out of it all Parry and Sadie were THE friends. The ones that people could be envious about because they were the perfect example of what friends should be. Sure, the girls had always been her girlfriends and Reese and Baron were the brothers she never had but Parry... Parry was _her_ friend.

"Well," Lou seemed to notice the tenseness. "I'm going to let you two talk." Walking out, Sadie for once was glad that Lou hadn't decided to intervene on this matter involvingher ranger life like he seemed to make a habit of doing with every other issue.

"Want some coffee?" Sadie asked, once her husband's foot steps were no longer heard. Reaching for the cabinet she pulled out two mugs.

Parry just eyed the one she held out like it was a poisonous snake. "No."

Sadie didn't fight the urge to roll her eyes this time. "So Parry you've got some issues." She stated like it wasn't the most obvious thing in the world since she'd first met him. While making the coffee, back to him she continued. "Let me guess, Baron's not going to let you whine to him for a straight two hours, no ones allowed to talk to Meghan, so that options out the window, Eva, well Eva's probably busy with those three little kids so she can't really be the counselor she was for us when we were younger, and then there's Reese- oh wait, Reese is dead," she ranted knowing full well that whatever his problem was it had to be a last resort to come to her for advice or it was the end of his world. "so no one can talk to Reese. Whatever could it be Parry? I'm dying to-"

She was cut off by the instant contact. Parry was engulfing her in a hug from behind almost burying his face in her hair and neck. Sadie had known Parry long enough to know when something was worse than not right with him. The green was emotionally unstable, he always seemed to be. It wasn't that he lacked the emotions or had too much but more of that he had the wrong ones at the wrong times and when he had the right ones something was definitely up. So right now, as she feels the hot tears matting the crook of her neck, Sadie knows something's wrong.

"Parry?" She whispers, grabbing a hold of the locked arms that are encasing her.

"Serena has leukemia." He says haggardly into her skin.

Instantly she feels remorse for the whole rant she just went on. "Oh Parry." For once she doesn't know what to say to him. Not for the first time she wishes that they were back to when they were kids and they could solve their problems by letting themselves be kicked around by a couple of bad guys before they let off some of their own steam.

"You're the first one I've told." He tells her. She twists around so that she can cradle his face in her hands and look at the sadness in his eyes and memorize it. It's not the first time they've kissed when one of them had been married and it probably won't be the last but they were each other's missed loves. Reese and Meghan, they were the tragic loves. Eva was destined to be with Don until the end of time and he knew it too, which is why he keeps away. Baron got the happily ever after that no one had expected he would get. But Parry and Sadie, they're the ones that had always been but never acted and when they finally measured up enough to do so there were..._complications_. Being married happened to be a big one.

Sadie finally pulls back, not at all ashamed but a little hurt that this is how it has to be. Tracing his sorry filled face with her finger Sadie brushes back some of his hair out of his face. "Remember that kid I saved who broke his arm when they decided to take us on one at a time?" Parry nods, quietly listening as she murmurs. "I saw him today. He wasn't any different, just older."

"I feel older." Parry admits.

Sadie agrees. "Me too."

"The nightmares are back." He tells her softly as he becomes intrigued with the dip of her should and the start of her neck. A place he always seemed to be fascinated with when they did have these intimate talks. The former yellow recognizes what nightmares he's talking about. It's the ones that you can't shake. Most rangers don't talk about them but that doesn't mean that they don't happen. Of course her team is more screwed up than any team combined. So it's no surprise.

Rubbing his stubble she kisses his chin softly then tells him she's going to get her purse. Going up to he room she finds Lou. It's easy to tell him that she needs to go and help Parry through some ranger stuff. Lou is just naïve enough to allow her to stay with Parry at his apartment. She reminds Lou to pick Mia up from school before she follows Parry to his car.

That night, there is no pretense. In fact, there isn't anything that shouldn't go on that goes on. They talk and he holds her in the bed and soon drift off like when they were children fighting a war that can only keep you sane for some time. Some time through the night she wakes up to the sound of him having a panic attack in his sleep. She just holds him a little tighter and thinks back to those days.

* * *

**AN:/** Not really proud of this chapter but it's something better than what I had originally written for Sadie and Parry. Oh well! Tell me what you think with those lovely little reviews.


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